Free AAMA Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) Practice Question

Checking for responsiveness and calling for help is the immediate next step when you find an unresponsive patient, provided the scene is safe. If the patient does not respond, you should then call for emergency medical services (EMS) prior to initiating any other intervention. Checking for breathing and a pulse simultaneously is done as part stable patient assessment, but it does not precede the urgency of calling for EMS. Administering CPR comes after calling EMS unless you are alone, then you should perform CPR immediately after calling for help and verifying the patient is unresponsive and not breathing or not breathing normally. Initiating chest compressions should not be the immediate next step without first assessing responsiveness and breathing and calling for help.